Fused quartz container having low levels of surface defects

Abstract

A quartz glass container is shown and described herein. The quartz glass container exhibits a low concentration of surface defects on an inner surface of the container. In aspects hereof, the container may have a surface defect density of 50 or fewer surface defects per square centimeter within a 1 cm band centered 1 cm from the base of the container.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A quartz glass pharmaceutical container defining an interior volume and having an upper end, a base end, at least one wall defining an inner surface and an outer surface, wherein the inner surface of the container has a surface feature density of 50 or fewer surface features per square centimeter within a 1 cm band centered 1 cm from the base end of the pharmaceutical container, the surface features having a size of 1 to 200 μm. 
     
     
       2. The quartz glass container of  claim 1 , wherein the surface feature density is 10 or fewer surface features per square centimeter. 
     
     
       3. The quartz glass container of  claim 1 , wherein the surface feature density is 5 or fewer surface features per square centimeter. 
     
     
       4. The quartz glass container of  claim 1 , wherein the container has a surface feature density of 5 or fewer surface features of 50 micron or greater per square centimeter. 
     
     
       5. The quartz glass container of  claim 1 , wherein the container has a surface feature density 5 or fewer surface features of 10 micron or greater per square centimeter. 
     
     
       6. The quartz glass container of  claim 1 , wherein the quartz glass container is chosen from a vial, a tube, a vacuum sealed tube, a cartridge, a syringe, a syringe barrel, or an ampoule. 
     
     
       7. The quartz glass container of  claim 1  comprising a pharmaceutical fluid disposed in the container. 
     
     
       8. A process for forming a plurality of quartz glass containers comprising:
 providing a quartz glass tube having a first open end and second open end opposite the first open end; 
 forming one or more features of a container at the first open end; 
 forming one or more features of a container at the second open end; 
 separating the quartz glass tube at a point distal to each of the first and second open ends, the separating operation providing two containers and forming a bottom of each container, wherein the pharmaceutical packaging container defines an interior volume and having an upper end, a base end, at least one wall defining an inner surface and an outer surface, wherein the inner surface of the container has a surface feature density of 50 or fewer surface features per square centimeter within a 1 cm band centered 1 cm from the base end of the pharmaceutical container, the surface features having a size of 1 to 200 μm. 
 
     
     
       9. The process of  claim 8  comprising purging the tube with a gas during the step of (i) forming one or more features of a container at the first open end, (ii) forming one or more features of a container at the second open end, or both (i) and (ii). 
     
     
       10. The process of  claim 8 , wherein the process is operated to process 50 to 3000 quartz glass tubes per hour. 
     
     
       11. A pharmaceutical packaging container made from the process of  claim 8 .